Some of my most inspired moments have come when listening to certain tracks of my favourite bands. Pink Floyd rate as one of my favourites of all time and there are several album tracks or passages within tracks that transport me into fantasy worlds. 'Echoes' from the album 'Meddle' has several passages which I've found pretty inspiring - from the opening bars of Rick Wright's piano (he put it through a Leslie cabinet to get that incredible note) and haunting organ together with David Gilmour's guitar work; to the middle passage where David Gilmour's guitar produces unearthly, primeval calls from some unimaginable creature; to the stirring passage produced towards the end of the piece first by the notes of Rick Wright's haunting organ to the cascading chords of David Gilmour's triumphant guitar! Like the stampede of knights arriving on the battlefield - stirring stuff!
I also love the beginning of 'Shine on you Crazy Diamond' where Rick Wright's keyboard of strings introduces the melodic notes of David Gilmour's guitar. Listening to this passage I'm transported into an ancient woodland at dawn, the sun rising to touch the tree canopy and casts shafts of light through glades of bluebells onto the woodland floor. The scene then shifts with that haunting guitar riff of David Gilmour.
Another band's music that has inspired me is Hawkwind especially the album 'Warrior on the Edge of Time'. The opening tracks 'Assault and Battery' and 'The Golden Void' are particularly noteworthy. Here the mellotron and synthesizers of Simon House conjure all sorts of interesting landscapes and certainly set my imagination off into uncharted territory!
Led Zeppelin drew inspiration from Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings' for several tracks on their early albums and 'Ramble On' from the second album is a classic; 'Immigrant Song' from the third album conjures up pictures of viking-like warriors on the rampage; and of course 'Stairway to Heaven' from the fourth has lyrics and music to stir the fantasy imagination!
Finally King Crimson's first album 'In the Court of the Crimson King' is packed with lyrics and music to stir the fantasy imagination. The symphonic mellotrons and brace of woodwind instruments of Ian McDonald, the haunting guitar licks of Robert Fripp, the melodic vocals of Greg Lake and the poetic lyrics of Peter Sinfield are all inspirational especially in the epic track 'Epitaph'; so much to listen to and digest!